Seniors: Week of 2-3 (Sunday night update)

Monday: Interior Monologues are due. Make two copies, one with your name and one without for peer evaluation. I put the actual assignment file (that you already received) and the peer evaluation file on Studywiz. I will give you a few minutes on Monday to get together (if you partnered with someone) to look over your shared work.

Tuesday: For Tuesday's class, you should have read "My Side of the Matter." It's posted on Studywiz, too. Written by Truman Capote, it's a fine example of first person subjective narration (like A & P) with an unreliable narrator. You should note anything that the narrator says that is "suspicious" or not trustworthy.

for Thursday's class: You should have read "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter. I have posted a copy of the story for you on Studywiz along with a pre-reading file. The story is also in your book. Come to class prepared with 10 analytical questions/comments on the story.

BUY One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest NOW!
It will cost you $7.50 at the bookstore. It is a used copy.

Sophs: Week of 2-3

Due for Monday's class:  post vocabulary sentence work at Schoolsville. All sections comment at the same post that is directly "below" this one.

Due for Tuesday's class: read p. 1 of the Emily Dickinson handout (found at Studywiz) for some biographical notes on Dickinson. Then look over the rest of the handout to find any TWO poems that you like and understand. Be able to discuss and/or write about these poems (their themes and their poetics) in class on Tuesday.

Due for Friday's class, 2-7: Read and write chapter summaries for the "Famous People" section of The Greatest Generation 

Vocabulary Unit 7: All Classes Post Here!

Post BEFORE CLASS ON Monday ten (10) sentences using ten different vocabulary words correctly, giving a context clue to the meaning of the word within your sentence. You will be graded on the quality of your sentences. 

Rows 1-3 should work with words 1-10; rows 4-6 should work with words 11-20.

Your context clue should use restatement, contrast, or inference (see p.7  of your vocab book if you need help with these).

Of course, identify yourself according to your first name, last initial, and section color.

e.g. Usually slightly nervous and uncertain, most ninth graders entering St. Mark's are somewhat taciturn during their initial days in school.

Seniors: Tuesday Homework due Friday

Here is an assignment that is due Friday. It's self explanatory.

Write an interior monologue (1 ½ to 2) pages double-spaced typed.

An interior monologue is narrated by a single character in the first person (“I” point of view) in the present tense. The monologue is a clearly written expression of the character’s thoughts, as in Dorothy Parker’s “But the One on the Right.” It is NOT to be confused with stream of consciousness, another first person present tense point of view in which the character’s thoughts are more random (and probably more realistic) and the punctuation and syntax more irregular.

The best interior monologues clearly delineate their narrators by providing specific references to their interests:  Parker’s narrator is fashionable, well-read and well educated, and sarcastically witty. References to the Bible, St. Nicholas magazine, Louise Boulanger, and the song “Button Up Your Overcoat” reveal these traits. Similarly, you should sketch your characters.

Choose a realistic and interesting situation that best utilizes the interior monologue point of view. The character should either be alone or alone with his or her thoughts without much temptation to talk. Your narrator can react to what others say or do but ONLY in his thoughts.

If you choose to work with a partner or two, each of you should write an interior monologue set in the same time or place. This will take some pre-writing coordination so we readers can see how your narrators “think” about the same scene they are witnessing. Plot out at least five specific things to which each of you will react.

In choosing this group option, select a realistic and interesting scene the best utilizes having more than one character witnessing and thinking about the same event. Maybe the two or three narrators are watching a movie, attending a class, people watching at the mall, or going to a concert. Maybe they’re witnessing an argument. For the best results, try to make your characters different, so that their reactions will be noticeably different.

DUE FRIDAY

30 pts.

Be prepared to read your monologues to the class.

Seniors: Week of 1-27

For Monday's class, you should have read Dorothy Parker's interior monologue "But the One on the Right." Look up all unfamiliar words and expressions. Be able to discuss (and/or write about) the character of the narrator by citing directly from the text. HINT: those unfamiliar words and expressions definitely serve in characterization. I have posted a copy of the interior monologue at Studywiz if you happened to miss class on Friday.

More to follow?

Sophs: For All Classes--Week of 1-27

1. Read the next section of The Greatest Generation for Monday's class; summarize each section with bullet-point notes.

2. Complete vocabulary unit #7 up through the sentence completions for Wednesday's class. Bring your completed homework to class on Wednesday.

Soph Exam Review

Check Studywiz for copies of previous tests to review for the semester examination.

Senior Exam: Important Review and Pre-Exam Work.

For exam review I've posted test files at Studywiz.

I have also posted a plot summary, for you to read, of John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath. It is important for you to read this plot summary before the examination because you will be given a chapter from that novel to read and analyze. Knowing how that chapter fits in to the novel will help you to answer the questions that follow.

Sophs: Thursday's Homework--The Transcendentalists

Read these pages in your book tonight: Ralph Waldo Emerson: 367-370---Henry David Thoreau: 383-387. Write down three lines (quotations) from both writers that sound inspirational. 

Both of these men were Romantics (they "loved" Nature), but they took their love of Nature to a higher degree, almost to the point of being Pantheists (people who study and revere Nature as a religion). 

They called themselves Transcendentalists. As Transcendentalists they believed in:

1. Oversoul--there is a part, a force, of God in all of us and all living things 

2. Communion with Nature--man can experience this "force" when he communes with Nature

3. Self-reliance--every man should rely on this "force" to make important decisions in his life--do not rely on the advice of others--be true to yourself at all times

Tuesday Icy Update! Sophs and Seniors

For all classes: Journals are still due tomorrow

Seniors: Tomorrow we'll go over "The Gift of the Magi." Review the handout that you were given in class yesterday for class lecture and discussion. "The Lottery" assignment (see previous post below) is now due Thursday.

Sophs

Blue class: we'll finish "To a Waterfowl" and begin Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," which you must read before class.

Green class: we'll finish "Usher" and begin "The Raven." Bring your completed "Raven" handout answers to class.

Yellow class: Does not meet Wednesday. Read "The Raven" and complete the handout to bring to class on Thursday.

School OFF--Schoolsville ON...We Never Close

St. Mark's is closed tomorrow. Check tomorrow for the latest plans for the week. Stay warm.

Seniors: The Lottery

Even though the story is in your book, here's a link to The Lottery.  Read it before Wednesday's class; come prepared with 10 questions and comments.

I will post a pre-reading guide to the story on Studywiz sometime tonight.

Stay warm, St. Mark's.

Schoolsville Snow Day Update

Sophs and Seniors! Journals must be turned in on Wednesday. Seniors have only three journals and sophs have four this quarter.

Sophs: finish the poem "To a Waterfowl" and answer the questions on the handout. Bring those answers to class on Monday.  Read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" for class on Monday. It's in your book--I have also posted a copy of the story on Studywiz along with some helpful notes on Poe that you should review. The story is also linked here.

Seniors: read "The Gift of the Magi" for Monday's class. The story is linked here. Your final journal [posted over the Christmas break] is based on this story. Finally, and most importantly, in honor of January 6, The Feast of the Magi, give someone a "gift" at home this weekend or at school on Monday. In the spirit of the Magi and Jim and Della, try to make the "gift" special, one that involves some sacrifice on your part or special consideration for what the receiver would really want. An easy way to do this is to make plans (over the weekend) with a classmate to exchange thoughtful "gifts" during school on Monday.